PINEDALE, Wyo. — The human bones found by hunters last September near the Sweetwater Gap Guard Station (at the south end of the Wind River Range) have been positively identified, according to a Thursday announcement by the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).
After 10 months of investigating and a collaboration among SCSO, Interpol, Scotland Law Enforcement, and the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, the remains have been identified as John Gillies, a Scottish man who would have been 69 years old this year. SCSO did not include any information about the manner of his death, nor any further details about the Scottish man’s presence in this part of Wyoming.
The results were yielded by a long chain of events. After the initial discovery of the bones, a 14-member search team covered 20 miles of rugged terrain, eventually locating personal effects that connected the case to Gillies. An anthropologist working with SCSO estimated the skeletal remains recovered had been there for approximately six years.
Next, investigators contacted Gillies’ ex-wife, “as no other next of kin was available in the United States,” per SCSO.
“Although she had not yet received confirmation that the remains belonged to Gillies, she shared photographs and details about Gillies including medical history and his life story,” SCSO’s statement reads. “In one message to investigators, she wrote, ‘I wanted you to know he was more than bones.’ Her compassion and willingness to assist provided invaluable insight during the investigation and served as a powerful reminder that every unidentified person is someone’s loved one.”
Through Saint Mary’s Church in Kirkintilloch, Scotland, officials assisted in obtaining DNA samples from Gillies’ living relatives overseas, which led to the positive identification of the remains on June 30 at the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory. Gillies’ relatives were notified that same day. SCSO is currently working with Interpol to coordinate the return of Gillies’ remains to Scotland, where he will be buried.
“What began as the discovery of unidentified remains in a remote area of Wyoming ultimately brought together local, state, federal, and international partners with one shared goal—to give a family answers,” Sheriff K.C. Lehr said in the announcement. “We are grateful to everyone who played a role in helping bring John home.”
